After the Battle, Healing Begins
by LadyPhenyx
Summary: No one realized just how hurt Jack was during the battle with Pitch, but Bunny began to get suspicious in the sleigh on the way back to the Pole. Or, rather shameless hurt!Jack and worried!Bunny with a bit of introspection thrown in.


Jack perched on the back of the sleigh, grinning widely as his lake disappeared below them. He leaned a little further over and his ribs gave a warning twinge that made him wince, glancing back in the sleigh to be sure no one saw that. The adrenaline was starting to wear off, and in its place was the dozen or more aches and pains he'd picked up over the last two days – not counting whatever he had from all those impacts with the ground Pitch had treated him to.

He hadn't eaten so much dirt since he'd started learning to fly. He was starting to think he might have done something pretty bad to his ribs, and his left wrist was beginning to throb. That impact with the dumpster and the ground had only made them worse, and he was only starting to pay for ignoring them.

Still, he was a Guardian now, and Pitch was hiding away for the time being. He'd just have to hide his injuries until they all split up, and he could hurry back to his den to take inventory and start taking care of them.

North probably had an infirmary, but...no. They'd just sworn him in, he wasn't going to be a burden on them already. He'd been injured before, he could take care of himself. Always had before, and probably always would.

They only swore him in for the fight, anyway. There was no reason to think they'd worry about the aftermath. He'd just pretend he was fine, go hide and lick his wounds in private, and emerge again when he was feeling a little less like roadkill. Maybe an ice brace for his wrist, and some more around his ribs. With any luck they weren't actually broken.

It wasn't like they'd had time to care about him before, so he was probably just fooling himself by thinking they might change now. And after this morning...he'd just keep smiling and wait.

Bunny's feelings about the sleigh hadn't changed any over the frantic weekend no matter how many times he'd been dragged into it, but North was too tired for his usual shenanigans of reckless, crazed driving, so he was keeping his complaints to himself. It was mostly North's driving he objected to, anyway.

He couldn't say the same about his feelings toward the winter spirit perched on the back of the sleigh, watching the lake disappear into the distance.

Just because Bunny was of Spring didn't mean he was blind to the beauty of the other seasons. It had just been hardest to appreciate Winter, with all the nasty spirits that tended to populate the season, doing their best to spread misery, and the bitter, harsh cold that killed so mercilessly. Not that Summer didn't kill just as harshly, but...there was no growing plant life during winter, just waiting, sleeping and resting to burst into life in the spring.

Then around three hundred years ago that had all changed. Suddenly it was as if something had leashed the destructive spirits, making Winter safer.

And along with that safety came beauty.

It had taken him ages to find the reason for all of that, but he'd finally seen the creator of that beauty. Jack had been laughing, almost glowing in the moonlight, racing around on that pond of his, fae and joyful, and it was a crush at first sight.

Then came the Easter of '68, and despite knowing Jack had no clue about Bunny's reluctant admiration it had felt like a betrayal.

Now that Jack was a Guardian, maybe he'd finally find out just what brought that on. He'd have to keep hold of his temper, but the past weekend had brought back that original crush in force – stronger now that he'd actually spent time with Jack and met the spirit behind the facade.

He turned to look back at Jack and noticed the younger spirit hunching in on himself, almost as if he was in pain.

Well...Jack did take a bellyflop onto a dumpster from who knew how high. Probably a miracle of immortal healing that Frostbite was still moving around at all.

He gingerly sniffed in Jack's direction, trying to scent how badly Jack was hurt. Well, he didn't smell any blood...but the set of Jack's shoulders said he was hurting, enough that it was beginning to leak through iron-clad defenses.

Not good, not good at all.

He'd keep his silence for now, but if Jack didn't admit to being hurt...Bunny was going to have to do something. He owed the Snowflake that much, at the very least.

The sleigh slid into the landing bay much more sedately than it had left it to the rousing cheers of yeti and elves.

North leapt out of the sleigh, obviously feeling better with each passing minute as Tooth's fairies restored the children's memories with their toothboxes. Tooth herself was jittery, obviously ready to go help the fairies drag the toothboxes back to her palace but unwilling to leave the others just yet after having come so close to losing them.

"So!" North exclaimed, shrugging off his heavy coat as he led the way into the Pole. "Pitch is gone and children safe. We celebrate!"

"Not so fast, mate. I think we need ta check the infirmary first," Bunny broke in before North could head for the vodka. "Dunno 'bout anyone else, but Frostbite here took a header into a dumpster."

Jack blinked in shock, staring at Bunny as if he'd never seen him before that moment before apparently coming to his senses, plastering a fake grin over his face.

"Aww, you do care," he laughed. "I'm fine, cottontail. I'll just go and..."

Bunny grabbed Jack's hoodie before Jack could fly off, pulling him along as he headed toward the infirmary. "Don't give me that, Frostbite. We all saw you hit that dumpster, and yer favorin' yer left wrist."

Jack continued to protest nearly the entire way to the infirmary, until twisting made the edges of his vision black out as pain shot across his chest.

...okay, maybe he needed the infirmary more than he thought.

Bunny settled Jack onto one of the infirmary beds more gently than he had originally meant to, since Jack had stopped protesting about halfway to the infirmary and swaying on his feet.

He started to really worry when he tugged the hoodie over Jack's head and Jack didn't protest, just curled around himself protectively. Bunny folded the worn hoodie carefully, setting it aside to give Jack a moment to recover.

He winced when he got a good look at the bruises covering Jack's torso, running a quick and careful paw over Jack's ribs, flinching at the little gasp Jack obviously couldn't hold back. Nothing felt broken, thank the prince with a thousand enemies, though it was likely a close thing. A second round of thanks for spirit resilience and healing that kept it from being as bad as it could have been.

There were marks on Jack's back and sides that didn't look like they were caused by the dumpster, scrapes and bruises frosting over defensively.

"What happened, Jack?" he asked as he checked Jack's wrist – a sprain, and a bad one, but it felt like it, like the rest of Jack's injuries, could have been much worse.

Jack shrugged with his free shoulder. "Pitch happened." When Bunny grunted, giving him a look that obviously demanded more, he elaborated. "Tried to get me to join him, I said no, he broke my staff and threw me against a cliff. Fell into a crack in the ice. Not a big deal."

Suddenly horrified, Bunny clutched Jack close, ignoring the startled squeak (and it was a squeak, no matter how much Jack might deny it later) to nuzzle at his temple, snuffling gently to reassure himself Jack was i_here_/i, Pitch didn't manage to infect him, everything was going to be fine.

Slowly Jack's arms came up to return the hug, slim fingers tugging on and tangling shyly in fur.

The room was silent for unknown minutes as they were both reassured the other was there, mostly unharmed, before Bunny slowly eased out of the hug. Jack was a touch reluctant to let go, despite everything that had happened between them that long day, and Bunny could almost see Jack putting his shields back up.

They were so like Bunny's own, despite using sarcasm and humor as defenses instead of anger, that it made him question again how he could have been so wrong about the newest Guardian.

"Let me wrap those ribs o' yours," was all he said instead, picking up the roll of bandages. "Think ya came close to cracking a few."

Jack grunted a few times as Bunny wrapped his torso and wrist, complaining that he could have just used his ice to do all of it in an undertone that Bunny ignored.

Finished with the bandages and unable to do anything else for Jack, Bunny handed back the hoodie, ears flickering as he debated the next move.

"Ya might want to get Sandy ta check you out," he said as Jack backed away, reaching automatically for his staff. "Just in case Pitch pulled some kind of backup plan with that sand o' his."

"And you'll set him on me if I don't?" Jack asked, leaning on his staff with the little grin that, just this morning, would have irritated Bunny into snapping.

He took a deep breath instead, nose twitching. "Ya tryin' ta push my buttons, Frostbite?" he asked, not expecting an answer. "Look..." he took another deep breath. Why was this so bloody i_hard_/i?

Finally daring to look at Jack again, he found the winter spirit looking up at him anxiously, putting him in mind, reluctantly, of a puppy that was expecting to be whipped while still hoping it wouldn't happen. Somehow it made the words come easier, spill out of his mouth without the difficulty that usually blocked them.

"I'm sorry. Fer jumpin' to conclusions, mostly. We need to talk. 'Bout today, 'bout '68, 'bout everything. We both got a lotta things wrong we gotta talk about if we're gonna be teammates." Or maybe more, the small, traitorous part of his mind whispered.

If before Jack had looked like a puppy expecting a blow, now he looked like one who'd expected a blow and gotten petted instead. Unable to resist, he drew Jack into another hug, careful of bruised ribs and very aware he'd been more affectionate in the last half hour than he'd been in years. "Yeah. A lot of talking. ...glad you're okay, Frostbite."

"...you too, Cottontail. You too."

* * *

A/N: This was a request on my tumblr when I asked what people would like to see me write. Thanks to all my various projects, it took awhile. I bet she thinks I forgot. I hope it's enjoyed.


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